A Brief Look at Crime 9/13 – 9/19

A gambling addict wanting money and valuable jewels led to the brutal slaying of a Sedalia woman, according to court documents. [The victum], 76, was found dead on her dining room floor Tuesday by a caretaker. “A large brown-handled knife” was plunged into her chest and she suffered severe facial and head injuries, according to court documents. [She] was an invalid who was always on oxygen, authorities said. Daniel Maschger, 44, of Lee’s Summit, has been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and armed criminal action, authorities told KMBC. He is being held in the Pettis County Jail.

Santa Ana police have arrested a man and a woman on suspicion of murder in connection with the robbery-killing of a gambler on his way home after a winning night at a Hawaiian Gardens casino. Police said Tad Carroll, 41, and Barbara Hamel, 47, of Long Beach were in a 2001 Pontiac on Sept. 3 when they allegedly cut off Bui as he was driving with a female passenger in Santa Ana. A fight broke out between Bui and Carroll on the pavement, and Carroll allegedly drew a knife. During the skirmish, $20 bills came flying out of Bui’s pocket onto the street. Police said Carroll then got back into the Pontiac, where Hamel was behind the wheel, and she allegedly proceeded to run over Bui.

A woman who admitted stealing nearly $380,000 from Detroit Public Schools later told investigators that she also took $252,000 by issuing checks in the names of dead people. Prosecutors say Toni Gilbert didn’t fully inform investigators until June, and by that time it was too late to pursue an accomplice because of the statute of limitations. The disclosure was made in court documents filed ahead of Gilbert’s sentencing on Thursday. The former Detroit schools employee was sent to prison for two years, six months less than what the government recommended. Defense attorney Kimberly Lewis says Gilbert had a gambling problem in the past.

A judge has hit out at online gambling and credit companies after jailing a Co Tyrone man who fleeced his bosses of more than £300,000 to fuel his addiction to internet betting. Dungannon Crown Court Judge David McFarland described it as “a moral tale of almost Biblical proportions” as he jailed 27-year-old Eamonn McGirr for 20 months after he agreed to serve a further 12 months on probation.

McGirr, from Richmond Drive in Clogher, admitted charges of fraud. He stole the money over a two-year period from Tyrone Tiling Services in Omagh. Judge McFarland said online gambling companies needed to look at how they did business, pointing out that people with |addiction problems could — apparently unchecked — gamble away thousands of pounds with a single click of a mouse.

A Coon Rapids man accused of romancing a Wisconsin woman out of $112,000 in savings and money from the sale of her house has committed suicide, authorities said Monday. When a police officer answered the 911 call to the home from his wife, family members were attempting to revive him, Wise said. Emergency responders took over resuscitation efforts before Pool was taken to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, according to the captain.

[He] was charged in June with felony theft. By that time, the money of the 51-year-old alleged victim was gone, most of it used to fuel his gambling addiction, according to the Eau Claire County district attorney’s office. “Her life-blood’s savings were completely sucked dry from this guy,” Assistant District Attorney Gary Schuster said Monday. “She now has had to work 20 years longer.” The woman, who lived in Altoona, Wis., at the time, turned over her money after [he] made empty promises of marriage and lied about having cancer, according to the criminal complaint.

Chicago Cubs rookie shortstop Starlin Castro may be old enough to play Major League baseball but he’s not old enough to gamble. News4 has learned that Castro was involved in a violation of Missouri gaming laws at Lumiere Place Casino on August 13th. The Cubs were staying at the Four Seasons Hotel and after their game that night with the St. Louis Cardinals, Castro and some of the players went downstairs to Lumiere Place Casino.

According to the Missouri Gaming Commission, a security guard failed to check Castro’s identification which would have shown that he’s only 20 years old. In less than 10 minutes another employee noticed he looked young, asked to see his ID and realized Castro was too young to be in the casino. Lumiere and other St. Louis area casinos have been fined for violations of underage gambling laws earlier this year.

The director of a program for abused children in Saline County has been arrested for embezzlement and running a gambling house. Prosecutor Ken Casady says 54-year-old Jackie Perkins of Little Rock faces theft and gambling charges. Perkins is chief of the Court Appointed Special Advocates office in Saline County, which lines up and trains volunteers to help child victims of abuse and neglect. Casady says the investigation revealed that Perkins ran a supposed charity bingo parlor that was in fact an illegal gambling house. She also is accused of misappropriating agency funds.

State police say a former township secretary in Erie County charged with stealing nearly $389,000 from the town’s coffers blew most of the money gambling. Damon Hopkins, the defense attorney for 62-year-old Nancy J. Brown, of Springfield Township, says she has cooperated fully with investigators and is being treated for a gambling addiction. The township’s supervisors fired Ms. Brown in June after it was discovered that she allegedly stole the money by writing checks to herself from a township payroll account since January 2002. After police interviews with Mr. Brown, she was charged Tuesday with forgery, theft, and receiving stolen property.

A St. John’s University fund-raiser stole $1 million from the Queens college to bankroll casino trips, Victoria’s Secret. shopping sprees and her son’s law school tuition, prosecutors say. Cecilia Chang , 57, was held on $1million bail after her arrest Wednesday for grand larceny, forgery and falsifying business records. Chang, who faces 25 years in prison, pocketed a $250,000 donation sent to the school from a charity run by one of the world’s richest men, billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, prosecutors say.

This is a news blog for Casino Watch staff, volunteers, scholars and policy makers. The views expressed by each contributor to this blog are those of that contributor alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of Casino Watch.